Charlie, a young terrier with lots of energy, was left with relatives while his family was traveling. The host family put a shock collar on Charlie to control his energy and barking. When Charlie’s family returned they found a frightened dog that no longer barked under any circumstances.
People who use shock collars may not realize how devastating a jolt to the neck is to a highly energetic, rambunctious dog. Instead of training dogs, shock teaches fear, despair, distrust, and resentment. Folks who don’t understand this are welcome to put a shock collar on themselves and hand the control to anyone who wants them to behave. With the control goes the decision about when the shock collar comes off. Kindly observe what happens to the ability to think clearly and to enjoy life.
Emotional pain that mistreated dogs experience is as extreme as physical pain. Look for downcast eyes, disinterest in food, no desire to investigate new experiences, fear around new people, cowering and withdrawal. Charlie’s family should act immediately to address their pet’s emotional pain for two reasons:
· to relieve mental anguish
· to prevent psychological pain from being expressed as behavior problems or physical illness.
All forms of holistic healing have methods to treat emotional pain, and here are some examples that can help a dog like Charlie process the anxiety and fear caused by abusive training with a shock collar and move beyond the experience:
Acupuncture points to massage
· at top of head in the middle between the ears
· behind the ears, deep in the groove between the skull and the ear
Homeopathy
· Rhus tox if prefers to be alone
· Phos acidum if apathetic
· Belladonna if nervous and restless
· Phosphorus if nervous and oversensitive
· Kali phos if shy, difficulty meeting people
· Thuja if overexcited and easily angered with little things
Flower Essence
· Aspen if fearful, withdrawn or anxious in many different circumstances
· Mimulus if fearful, withdrawn or anxious in one or two identifiable circumstances
· Gentian if depressed or discouraged due to bad experience
· Larch if cowering and overly submissive
· Rock Rose for terror, panic and extreme fear
· Star of Bethlehem for mental and physical shock
It’s fine to use multiple therapies. The Flower Essence therapies are often combined, then misted onto the pet, dropped in the mouth, or put in the drinking water. SpiritEssence at www.SpiritEssence.com has Stress Stopper and other formulas that are useful in cases like this.
Chinese and Western herbs also address emotional suffering. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) emotional suffering is a form of “shen” or spirit disturbance. In future blogs, we’ll look at herbs that help with anxiety and shen disorders. We’ll also identify some holistic therapies that will help Charlie learn better so he can be trained without aggression and without shock collars.
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